A proposal for a new approach to VCS grants (consultation document) November 2015
The VCS Grants Prospectus: a proposal for a new
approach to voluntary and community sector grants
Contents
What are we proposing?
1
What do we want to achieve?
1
How will it work?
3
What funding will come into the prospectus?
4
What will happen next?
5
Other VCS grants prospectus consultation documents
6
Consultation survey
6
Website and contact details
6
Definitions
7
Prospectus diagram
9
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Jane Houben, Bristol City Council Investment & Grants Team
A proposal for a new approach to VCS grants (consultation document) November 2015
What are we proposing?
People from the council and the voluntary and community sector (VCS) have worked
together to design a new approach to grant funding and together we have agreed that we
need to focus the council’s grant investment on tackling disadvantage in the city.
We believe that by having a clear focus and by working better together, we can use this
money more strategically, more powerfully and have a far bigger impact.
We are calling this new approach a ‘prospectus’ because we will have one document in
which we tell people what council grant funding is available, what we want to achieve, what
we expect from funded organisations and what the processes are for applying for and
allocating the grants. It will ask VCS organisations to propose how they can use their skills,
local knowledge and expertise to support disadvantaged people in the city (individuals as
well as geographic communities and communities of interest). It will include a set of ‘values’
for funded organisations to sign up to. This prospectus will last for four years with the first
grants in place in April 2017.
What do we want to achieve?
In 4 years’ time we want to see that this co-designed approach to VCS grant funding is
resulting in less disadvantage and inequality experienced by Bristol’s residents and for
those who are experiencing disadvantage being more able to cope or manage, not just
day-to-day but for the longer term.
We want to make a real difference for disadvantaged people in the city and to do this we will
support VCS organisations to address any number of the eight key factors of disadvantage
that we have identified. These factors are:
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poverty (financial poverty, food poverty, fuel poverty)
unemployment and underemployment
physical and emotional ill health
lifestyle deprivation (not being able to access services and opportunities in the city)
low engagement (not participating in the community)
physical, social and digital exclusion or isolation
discrimination
crime and violence
We have called these eight factors our ‘key challenges’ and we show some examples of how
they impact on local people and how we will focus support through the prospectus in a draft
document called ‘VCS Grants Prospectus Key Challenges – a Bristol story’.
We know that disadvantaged people in our city face multiple, complex and often
deep-seated issues and that disadvantage impacts on geographic communities and
communities of interest. We need to be clear about our priorities, recognising that we
cannot expect to ‘fix’ disadvantage with (up to) £5 million per year for four years. We have
clear evidence of who is disadvantaged in our city, and where they are, and the story this
tells helps to illustrate what we are trying to address.
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Jane Houben, Bristol City Council Investment & Grants Team
A proposal for a new approach to VCS grants (consultation document) November 2015
We believe that we can only achieve real and lasting change for disadvantaged people if we
are clear not just about our focus, but about the ways we expect organisations to work. We
have developed a set of values that will underpin all prospectus-funded activities by calling
for funded organisations to work in ways that:
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Make a real difference
Support the most disadvantaged
Offer early help
Build on existing strengths of people, organisations and communities
Connect people
Link with the wider city
This will bring about a real change in the ways we work together, with an emphasis on
building resilience, early intervention, collaboration and sharing resources, community
cohesion and asset-based approaches (recognising and using the skills, strengths and
resources within our communities). These are explained in the definition section on page 7.
For more detail about this please see the ‘VCS Grants Prospectus vision, values and
principles’ document.
We will also want to demonstrate that the prospectus funding has made a difference and
organisations receiving funding will need to provide us with data about the effectiveness of
their activities, providing evidence of the impact in reducing disadvantage or inequality and
(disadvantaged) people being more able to cope.
How will it work?
The concept of the prospectus is summarised visually in a one-side diagram (page 7).
To successfully implement the prospectus for VCS grants we need to have an effective
application process. We want this to be proportionate and inclusive so that small VCS
organisations are not excluded from or disadvantaged by the process. The process must
allow organisations to describe their proposals and the way they will work so that all
applications can be fairly and consistently considered and appraised. It must also
implement our shared values and commitments, as described in the Bristol Compact.
We are designing three application processes for small, medium and large grants and our
proposals for these, including the draft application questions, are set out for consultation in
the draft VCS Grants Prospectus: application process.
We are proposing to offer a mix of four-year grants (with funding tapers built in at years 3
and 4) and two-year grants (see the ‘VCS Grants Prospectus: application process’
document, page 9). We think this will give funded organisations a stable funding base from
which to lever in additional income and allow us the flexibility to meet changing need.
We need to maximise the proportion of grant investment, effort and resources used to
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Jane Houben, Bristol City Council Investment & Grants Team
A proposal for a new approach to VCS grants (consultation document) November 2015
directly benefit disadvantaged people. In this spirit, the council is also interested in looking
at how we can support organisations in ways other than through grant funding. In the future
this could include support with finance, IT and human resources functions as well as
supporting organisations with an interest in sharing premises to find suitable locations so
that they can collaborate on a day to day basis and share costs.
What funding will come into the prospectus?
The council currently invests around £18m annually in supporting VCS organisations. Of
this £1.5m is the notional value of annual concessionary rents or leases with local VCS
organisations, £8.5m is through mandatory business rate relief to charities, £0.3m is through
discretionary business rate relief, £0.4m in small grants and £7.3m through revenue grants.
These £7.3m of revenue grants are made by many different teams in the various council
departments and have many different purposes. Our proposed new approach will align up
to £5m of this revenue grant funding to make it work better for the people who need it most.
The actual amount available for the prospectus will depend on the impact of the
government’s spending review on the council’s budget.
Some grants will not be within the scope of the prospectus and there are a number of
reasons for this:
(i) The Care Act implementation will affect £0.5m grants which will become statutory
provision for the council and therefore become commissioned contracts. Further
grants of £0.3m may also be affected, pending a decision by the council’s People
directorate.
(ii) £0.4m is the value of the grant for VCS infrastructure (VCS support, development and
representation) currently provided through Voscur’s Support Hub, which we are in the
process of re-commissioning. This re-commissioning will be completed before the
prospectus is launched so that the successful organisation will be in place to support
organisations with the new grants process.
(iii) We will use £0.7m to re-commission community advice provision in the city (new
grant agreements to be in place by 2016) because of the strategic importance of
having this in place at a time of major welfare reform.
(iv) An element of the council’s £0.9m Key Arts Provider (KAP) grants is focused on
increasing participation for those who are often excluded from arts-related activity as
a result of disadvantage. Many Key Arts Providers also receive funding from Arts
Council England. We will work towards the KAP fund contributing to the prospectus
vision to tackle disadvantage and at the same time contributing to Arts Council
England’s commitment to greater inclusion.
We expect the VCS infrastructure support and the community advice grants to come into the
prospectus at a later date.
We also expect commissioners to consider grants as an option alongside contracts (using
the council’s own funding decision tool) when beginning all future commissioning projects,
even if these are not within the initial scope of the prospectus. All future grants will use the
prospectus standardised approach and values.
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Jane Houben, Bristol City Council Investment & Grants Team
A proposal for a new approach to VCS grants (consultation document) November 2015
What will happen next?
After the consultation period has ended the co-design group will use the feedback to guide
our development of a final prospectus. We plan to ‘test’ the prospectus for equalities
impacts with equalities voice and influence groups at this post-consultation stage.
We will have a completed prospectus to take to the council’s Cabinet in June 2016. Once it
is agreed by Cabinet, we will launch the prospectus in July 2016, with the first grants
process running in the autumn of 2016 so that we can make funding recommendations by
the end of December. We will then be able to comply with the Bristol Compact and give
three-month’s notice to end existing grants and three-month’s notice for new grants to be in
place from April 2017.
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Jane Houben, Bristol City Council Investment & Grants Team
A proposal for a new approach to VCS grants (consultation document) November 2015
Other VCS grants prospectus consultation documents
VCS Grants Prospectus Key Challenges: a Bristol story
VCS Grants Prospectus: application process
The following background documents are also available from our web page (see below) or
on request:
VCS Grants Prospectus: vision, values and principles
VCS Grants Prospectus Equality Impact Assessment
Consultation survey
We have an online survey with questions relating to the three consultation documents and
we would encourage you to complete it. Please contact the Investment & Grants Team and
ask us to send you a copy if you would prefer not to complete it online.
Website and contact details
Email: investmentandgrants@bristol.gov.uk
Telephone: 0117 903 6437
Consultation Finder website: www.bristol.gov.uk/consultationfinder
VCS Grants webpage:
https://www.bristol.gov.uk/people-communities/grants-for-voluntary-and-community-organi
sations
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Jane Houben, Bristol City Council Investment & Grants Team
A proposal for a new approach to VCS grants (consultation document) November 2015
Definitions
Here we explain some of the terms we have used in the context of this proposal and the
prospectus consultation documents.
Asset-based approach
Asset based approaches provide a different way of thinking about the role of individuals,
communities, associations and institutions in creating vibrant, prosperous and inclusive
communities. There are three basic questions:
1. What is that communities can do best?
2. What do communities require help with?
3. What do communities need outside agencies to do for them?
If we can be clear about the answers to each of these questions, we can make better use of
the resources we have or have access to and we can support one another to use them for
the benefit of whole communities. We are emphasising that our focus is asset based to
make clear our starting point that activities funded through the prospectus should not be
about imposed solutions
Bristol Compact
The Bristol Compact is the agreement made between the public sector and the Voluntary
and Community Sector (VCS) in the city. The Bristol Partnership has adopted the Bristol
Compact on behalf of the city and promotes and encourages its use. The Compact
recognises that positive working relationships are crucial to Bristol and it seeks to define and
strengthen the links between the public sector and the VCS – for the benefit of Bristol, its
people and communities.
Co-design
We have been very fortunate to have drawn together a group of people managing VCS
organisations locally who have agreed to work with us, using co-design principles, to
produce a new approach to meet the needs of the city as the VCS sector understands it, as
well as from the council’s perspective. Our co-design principles were established with
support from academics from Bristol University and gave us a framework for working
towards a common goal and achieving consensus. This approach has enabled open and
honest discussions and a very creative, confident and challenging environment which goes
beyond the “funder” and “funded” traditional relationship. The content of this consultation
paper is the result of this and presents a common view that the investment from the council
needs to be focused on addressing the key challenges for the city and our citizens,
specifically issues of disadvantage and inequality in Bristol.
Collaboration
We use the term collaboration to mean three things. We want organisations funded through
the prospectus to work together, either formally or informally, to enhance their impacts on
geographic communities or communities of interest. We want organisations to come
together to build solidarity and advocate change where this is needed to tackle
disadvantage. We also want organisations to share their learning for the benefit of the city.
Community cohesion
By community cohesion we mean understanding, tolerance and good relations between
people from different communities so that there is a sense of belonging for all communities
and the diversity of people’s different backgrounds and circumstances is appreciated and
positively valued. Community cohesion cannot be forcibly imposed by external agencies but
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Jane Houben, Bristol City Council Investment & Grants Team
A proposal for a new approach to VCS grants (consultation document) November 2015
has to be achieved through community members working together for the benefit of all.
Tackling equalities issues, ensuring those from different backgrounds have similar life
opportunities and ending discrimination are fundamental to creating cohesive communities.
Communities of interest
Communities of interest or identify are terms used to describes people who share particular
characteristics, usually the ‘protected characteristics’ in the Equality Act 2010 (such as age,
race, religion and belief, gender, sexual orientation and disability). For example we might
refer to Somali women or Disabled young people as communities of interest.
Disadvantage
The focus of the prospectus is on Bristol’s most disadvantaged citizens. By ‘disadvantaged’
we mean those people and communities who lack or are denied resources, rights, goods
and services, and who cannot be part of the usual connections, activities and opportunities 1,
available to the majority of people in Bristol.
Early intervention
Early intervention is acting to prevent problems occurring and supporting people to reduce
the impact of problems and stop escalation when they arise. It involves working together
across agencies and with communities in Bristol to provide the right support at the right time.
Geographic communities
By geographic communities we mean places or neighbourhoods in Bristol. We know that
some neighbourhoods are very deprived and that some are affluent. Our focus for the
prospectus will be on the most deprived areas of Bristol.
Resilience
The term resilience is commonly used in science to describe the ability of materials to
withstand large forces, shocks or stresses. In the prospectus we use resilience to mean the
ability of individuals or communities to cope with difficult times or situations. Resilient
communities are ones that can use local resources and expertise to help themselves. Some
people and organisations use the term ‘readiness’ instead of resilience. The prospectus will
fund organisations that enable communities to be stronger and to respond flexibly to
change.
Voluntary and community sector
For this grants prospectus, by voluntary and community sector we mean non-governmental,
community-based organisations which are value-driven (their values arise from the
community) and which reinvest their surpluses to further social, environmental or cultural
objectives for the community. The sector includes voluntary and community organisations,
charities, Community Interest Companies, co-operatives and mutuals. They range from
small volunteer/single worker organisations and local community groups to large
established organisations. Information about which VCS organisations will be eligible to
apply for grants is included in the VCS Grants Prospectus Vision, Values and Principles
document.
1 This is based on a definition taken from: Levitas, R., Pantazis, C., Fahmy, E., Gordon, D., Lloyd, E. and Patsios, D. (2007) The
Multi-Dimensional Analysis of Social Exclusion. Department of Sociology and School for Social Policy, Townsend Centre for the
International Study of Poverty and Bristol Institute for Public Affairs, University of Bristol (page 9)
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Jane Houben, Bristol City Council Investment & Grants Team
A proposal for a new approach to VCS grants (consultation document) November 2015
Who benefits?
What we believe the
problems are
Our aspirations
Poverty (financial, food,
fuel)
Make a real
difference
Unemployment &
underemployment
Physical & emotional ill
health
Individual
Geographic
Community of
interest
Not being able to access
services and
opportunities in the city
Low engagement (not
participating in the
community)
VCS
Shared Impacts
Reduced
disadvantage
& inequality
Support the most
disadvantaged
Offer early help
Build on existing
strengths of people,
organisations and
communities
Connect people
Link with the wider
city
Physical, social or digital
inclusion and isolation
VCS activities
and
skills to address
the key
challenges
To deliver
Increased
ability to selfmanage &
cope
Discrimination
Crime & violence
Appendix C
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Jane Houben, Bristol City Council Investment & Grants Team